


Abandoned Soul

by cuddlequxxn



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), All Magic, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Witch AU, Witch!Marinette, demon!adrien, no miraculous, they are in their early 20s or at least look it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-13 05:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10506774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlequxxn/pseuds/cuddlequxxn
Summary: Ladybug was a witch that flew through Paris at night, protecting the citizens from anything supernatural. She was well known, but no one knew who she was exactly, the spots on her outfit being her only defining feature. One night she is told to go check out an abandoned mansion with bad vibes radiating off of the place, no witch or civilian wanting to go near it. Ladybug, however, was brave enough to go into the mansion and try to help whatever was sending everyone away.She wasn't expecting a demon.





	1. The Abandoned Mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi I originally wrote this as a warm up bc I've been stuck on my other ml fic how they perceive you for actual months (I have been writing and rewriting and deleting and rewriting since the moment I posted the first chapter), but ended up writing what became a chapter of what could be a different fic (???). I probably will update this tbh bc I really like what I've set up story wise.  
> enjoy!! :))

Ladybug was one of the most well know witches in Paris. If you happened to be out and about during the night, you might be able to catch her flying around the city on her broomstick. She wasn’t hard to spot, since her spots gave her away. She wore a a black hat with a red and black dotted ribbon tied at the base. The inside had a red lining, more saturated black dots, since the inside didn’t ever see the sun. Her black cape almost engulfed her while she was on the ground, whereas in the sky it flapped powerfully in the wind. A ladybug clip sat at the collar of the cape, a clear indicator that it was indeed her. 

Without her cape you would be able to see the rest of her outfit more clearly than the blurred images of her riding on her broom. She wore a long, wine-red top with two black bars near the top of the bicep, the black appearing again at the wrists and the collar of the shirt. Ladybug wore pants, something becoming more common in modern day, but most witches still obeyed to the skirt or dress stereotype. She wore black jeans, simplistic and easy to wear with anything, that made changing from everyday girl to witch extremely easy. 

The girl behind the famed witch was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, baker’s daughter, and fashion designer. Magic ran in both sides of the family: traditional Chinese magic from her mother, and French magic on her father’s. Although both of her parents had quit using magic for everything, they still used it from time to time and supported their daughter in her endeavors. When Marinette wasn’t spending all of her time in the fashion house or flying around Paris, she helped out in the bakery. Her parent’s bakery had grown in popularity over the years, the amount of orders and people coming in almost doubling in the past year alone. 

Since Marinette was a busy girl, flying around Paris wasn’t the most important thing at first. Eventually the niche community obsessed with the girl grew, and the mayor of Paris requested that she help with the growing supernatural problem within the city. The police could handle the amount of crime, but since the number of supernatural appearances in the city had increased over the past few years, it was becoming too much for the police to handle. When Ladybug had spoken with the mayor, he didn’t seem too keen on allowing a young witch to be in charge of dealing with the supernatural, since she was apart of the supernatural community herself. After she had explained that she was not apart of the witch community that was pushing the more evil supernatural beings to show themselves, his body relaxed and he told her that if she ever needed anything that she was free to ask. 

All of that now lead to where she was now, flying over the Seine, following her wand’s direction after she had cast a ghost detecting spell. Most ghosts were harmless, accidently appearing and scaring civilians. Ladybug knew of no harmful ghosts that roamed around the main part of Paris, filled with tourists and whatnot. Any resentful spirits were probably put to rest by witches before her time. 

Ladybug’s wand was sending her in the direction of the abandoned Agreste mansion. No one had lived in there for years, the original owners leaving after some supernatural activity began in the place. No magical entity wants to set foot in the place, the bad vibes sending anyone in the opposite direction. Ladybug, however, wanted to try and deal with any and all supernatural disturbances in her city, so she was brave enough to go near it. 

The mansion had ivy growing up the walls, giving it a hauntingly beautiful look despite being abandoned. Ladybug landed in front of the property, resting her broom against the concrete wall attached to the gate in front of her. The iron was rusted, the black bars dotted with red. A chain hung around the bars with a lock in the center, keeping the abandoned building away from the general public. Ladybug looked the chair over, flipping it around in her hands. It looked easy to manipulate using her magic, but whoever had locked it obviously didn’t want anyone getting in. The gate didn’t look hard to jump over, but the rust made it an unwanted option. Ladybug hopped back on her broom, flying up and over the slightly cracking concrete wall. Landing gently on the other side, Ladybug walked up to the front doors of the mansion. 

The front doors also had a lock and chain on them. Ladybug huffed and pointed her finger at the lock, it clicking and falling to the ground with the chain still connected. The witch proceeded to unlock the front doors too, knowing well that at this point every door until she was inside was going to be locked. After hearing a click, Ladybug pushed the door open and made her way inside. 

The mansion was extremely grand on the inside, marbled floors leading straight to the magnificent staircase in the center. A large painting hung on the wall covered by a large drape. Doors lined the entire bottom floor, and seemed to continue onto the top floor from what Ladybug could see. Following the directions of her wand, Ladybug made her way up the stairs and towards what she assumed to be a bedroom. The entire room was bigger than her parents entire apartment. 

A large rock wall adorned the wall above where the door she entered from was. Next to the door were two ramps that could be considered either for skate boarding, or for sliding down on when you tired of the rock wall. Next to those was what seemed like both a used and unused A large bed was next to the ramps, a computer and desk just past it. On the other side of the room from the witch was a television, a couch, and a foosball table. Of course one could not forget the giant window of a wall giving a view of the buildings across the street and the city behind them. A spiral staircase lead to the library on the second floor of the room, as well as the rock wall on the other side. 

Ladybug walked around in awe. The room looked like it was made for a teenage boy, yet also looked like it was barely touched. If this room was an example of the rest of the mansion, it seemed more like a house than a home. 

Ladybug walked up the stairs and admired the bookcases, letting her fingers gently glide against the spines of the hardcover books. Looking down at the moonlight filling the dark room reminded her of why she continued to do this. She always ended up in dark and scary places to normal people, but the moonlight always seemed to make the places more beautiful to her. 

A sudden dark energy entered the room and Ladybug stiffened, her movements stopping and her entire coming to a halt besides her ever beating heart. The moonlight seemed to dull against the marble floor, the room suddenly becoming darker as if the moon had been covered. Ladybug pulled her wand out, standing at attention for whatever might want to attack her. 

“Whoever is there please know I mean you no harm,” Marinette said to the physically empty room, hoping whatever was there wasn’t dangerous. “If you want to speak with me, I’ll come down the stairs and speak to you.”

Ladybug made her way down the stairs, one hand on the handrail and the other tightly gripping her wand so that if anything wanted to try and grab it, they wouldn’t be able to. As she made her way onto the first floor of the bedroom, she heard a rustling coming from the area she had just been in. Taking a few steps backwards, Ladybug looked up towards the bookcases. 

Only to see books being flung towards her. 

Ladybug dodged the books, and ran back to the staircase. Climbing up the twirling stairs, Ladybug peaked her head up to see a dark mass near the books stop its movements. She could feel it looking at her and neither of them moved. In an instant, a book was thrown at where her head was, as she ducked at the same moment to avoid the object. The dark mass moved towards the stairs as Ladybug ran towards the middle of the room, the mass seeming to follow her. As her movements slowed, so did the mass’s, its form slowly coming into view. 

It seemed to be a male, tall with what seemed like blond hair in the dark grey mass. He had bright green eyes, the only color to come off brightly in the moonlit room. He was dressed nicely; what seemed like either black or grey slacks and a button up. He also wore black dress shoes, a hint of reflection coming from the moon. 

He seemed handsome, except that was the only thing Ladybug could think of him at the moment. 

She knew nothing about him, what he wanted, or why he was there. The whole reason she was there was to deal with an evil spirit that seemed to be driving every witch in the area away, with her being the only one brave enough to come inside. Whatever he was, he wasn’t up to anything good just by the impression the house was giving to the outside world. 

“What are yo-”

“Why are you in this house and how did you get in?” the man said, cutting Ladybug off. 

“I am here to put an evil spirit to rest, or at least reason with it enough to not drive every supernatural entity in the city away from this general area,” Ladybug stated, still gripping her wand. 

“How did you get in, though? There were so many locks that a human would have given up after the first one at the gate.” The man replied, hard features present in his face but curiosity in his eyes. 

“I’m a witch, I have a wand, I know how to use magic. I think those are valid reasons as to how-”

“Get out,” he interrupted. 

“Excuse me?” Ladybug asked, stepping forward. 

“Get out. You’re not welcome here, and I don’t want you poking around my room.”

“This is your room?” Ladybug questioned, her face soft and welcoming.

“Well,” he paused, looking up towards the ceiling, “it wasn’t my room originally, but I’ve claimed it now so that makes it my room.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Ladybug thought, stepping even closer to the dark mass and looking up at him as he stood about a head taller than her, “except how did you get here in the first place.”

“Ya know what,” he said, hunching down to be at eye level with her, “I don’t want to tell a witch anything about me. Witches have only fucked me over, and I don’t want another one to do the same.”

Ladybug stood there for a moment. This, whatever he was, had been hurt by a witch, and that was why he didn’t want any coming near him. All of them had gotten the signal that they weren’t wanted, except her since she ignored it and went in anyway. 

She needed to have him trust her at the very least. 

“I’m not here to do anything mean to you, I want to help.” Ladybug lifted her hand to grab onto his arm, moving her thumb back and forth to try and show that she was, in fact, safe to talk to. She was more surprised to find mass to hold onto, and to not have her arm fall through him. 

He looked her up and down for a moment before stopping at her eyes. They stood like this for a moment before he sighed, and moved to sit down on the bed. He looked at her for a moment before tilting his head to the side to motion for her to sit down next to him. As she sat down, she adjusted her cape, the room seeming to get colder as she got closer to him. 

“I won’t give you the full story, since I don’t know if I can trust you yet. Basically, I used to be a cat. I just so happened to be a witch’s familiar, but she seemed to have other plans for me. After she would do the normal pet care, she would test things on me and eventually I died from her not caring that I wasn’t a test dummy but a living, breathing creature. I died so resentful that before I was given a chance to go to wherever my final resting place would be, a demon thought it would be a funny joke to turn me into one too. I now haunt this house since she practiced her magic in the attic.”

Ladybug felt so bad for him, that he had been wronged that bad and could never rest peacefully except in this house. She rested her hand on his knee, drawing circles with her thumb. 

“How was she able to practice her magic when there have been people living in this house almost the entire time it’s been standing?” Ladybug asked, not looking up to reach his eyes. 

“I was also the family’s cat,” he said, eyes looking towards something that wasn’t there, and a smile beginning to settle on his lips. “They treated me so well. They found me outside the property and the wife decided to take me in. She fed me everyday, and when I started to get sick from the witch’s treatment, she tried to take me to a vet to try and save me. I was the whole reason the witch was able to sneak into the attic and how they never found out she was even there in the first place. She is also the reason they moved.”

Ladybug looked over to him, only to find sadness in his features. His eyes were shined over with tears he couldn’t shed, his features distant. Even though she didn’t know much about him or his story, she felt sad for him. He was wronged by someone and she couldn’t help with that, and that hurt her the most. She wanted to make him feel better, but couldn’t seem to find an answer in her thought-filled brain. All she could do was squeeze his knee and let him know she was there for him. 

“What’s your name?” Ladybug asked, looking him in the eye. 

“The witch wasn’t good with names, you see. She named me Chat Noir because my fur was the darkest black she had ever seen on a black cat. I know that’s one of the reasons I became her familiar, but other than that I don’t know why she picked such an unoriginal name.” Chat Noir looked almost bitter at the name he was given. 

Ladybug laughed, however. She giggled at the unoriginal name, looking up at him and noticing him soften for a moment before chuckling.    
“We live in France, for god’s sake! Naming a black cat “black cat” in french isn’t super original lady,” he continued, a small smile on his face. Ladybug continued to giggle for a couple more seconds before calming herself, able to finally look at him without going back into another giggle fit. 

“Well, Chat Noir, I was sent here to deal with a bad vibe, and instead I’m coming out with a good friend,” she said as she stood up, a large smile spreading across her face. 

“About that,” Chat said, Ladybug’s smile faltering a bit, “You’re still a witch, and I still don’t like witches. Even though you’re nice and all, I would prefer if you didn’t come back here.”

“Oh,” Ladybug said, smile fulling falling. “Of course. I’ll be on my way out then.”

“Allow me to help you at least.” Chat said, holding out his hand. 

“Oh, I don’t need that. I know my way back dow-” Ladybug said before being cut off, a force pushing her through the air and stopping right in front of her broom where she left it next to the front door. Ladybug turned around to see Chat standing there, hand behind him scratching at his neck nervously. 

“Thank you,” Ladybug said. Chat smiled at her and began walked closer as he began to talk. 

“It has really been lovely meeting you Miss…” He looked at her again for a moment before the decision lit up his face, “Miss Ladybug. Yeah, I’m calling you Ladybug.”

“Haha, that’s what Paris likes to call me, since no one can seem to get a good picture of me without only seeing my spots,” Ladybug said, giggling and looking down at the ground nervously. 

“Well, Miss Ladybug, you have been lovely to me aside from holding your wand at a death grip the entire time,” Chat said before leaning closer and bringing his mouth to her ear, “Don’t come back unless you want to deal with a different side of me.”

In an instant, the same force that pushed her out of the bedroom and to the front door shoved her out of the front door with her broom in hand and wand in the other. She had never experienced anything with a demon in her magical experience. In her readings, it was said that demons were powerful, evil entities. Chat, however, seemed to be different. Nicer than she had expected when she walked in. 

As Ladybug hopped back on her broom and flew around the building back in the direction of her home, she looked at the giant window of a wall and saw Chat follow her with his gaze as she flew away into the night. 

She thought about what had happened that night. She originally went for a case of an evil entity that was sending witches away left and right. All she found was a misunderstood demon who just needed someone to listen to him for once. Yes, she knew nothing else against him. Yes, she didn’t know if he was lying to her the entire time. What she did know, though, was that he was interesting. She could feel a sort of connection with him in some way. Romantic? Of course not, he was a demon and she was a witch that was unthinkable. Plus, he seemed to guarded for her to even want that. He seemed more like the type to joke around with her, if the jokes about his name was anything to go off of. He seemed like a good guy, but the demonic outer shell would always turn her away if she ever ended up going back to the place.

She needed to learn more about the demon that piqued an interest in her mind and soul. She needed to get closer to him, since it seemed like the strings of fate were leading them to each other. Her duty was to help him, and to learn as much as she could about the odd demon as she could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette/Ladybug's outfit is inspired by an outfit that has been in my head and I drew for marinette on my tumblr. that drawing might be redrawn better and then incorporated into the story/I might draw the official witch!mari for this fic idk. I'm into spooky stuff my dudes I know its march/almost april.  
> tumblr is cuddlequxxn (same as here) for any fan art or updates I might do who knows I'm a busy gal sometimes. comments and kudos are much appreciated and inspire me to write since I know at least someone likes it and its not just my brain.  
> love u


	2. Abandoned Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this the next morning after I posted the last chapter. also note that I updated the relationships ( ;)) ) and character list for this story so as characters and relationships appear they will be added  
> I kinda love this story.  
> enjoy :))

Marinette was exhausted. 

Since she had gone to the abandoned mansion so late at night and not left until an ungodly hour, she was left in her parent’s bakery at 7h00 almost hitting her head on the counter whenever she almost fell asleep. The only thing keeping her attention besides the occasional customer was one of her magic books. She had it resting between her and the counter in front of her, just out of view of most people as long as they weren’t super tall. She had it open to the demons chapter, countless warnings of “Don’t Read This” and  “Keep Your Distance” were dotted along the pages. The most dangerous the section, the more adamant the warnings became, which only lead Marinette’s eyes deeper into the pages of the book.

The book itself would lead the more curious closer, and the more timid farther away. The sheer enormity of it would make almost anyone not want to read it, even if it was meant to be read in sections or as you needed it. The entire thing was handwritten, a couple papers thrown in that looked like a printing press was used, others thrown in or stuck on as more experiences and information has been gathered. 

The demon section of the book hadn’t been touched since it was originally written, no one ever daring to go near a demon willingly, and if they did, they didn’t make it out alive. Demons were notorious for killing for fun, not wanting to deal with anyone who dared to bother them. Some like torture, others did it instantly. 

Marinette wasn’t quite able to process all the information given to her, since she was running on such little sleep. She sighed and closed the book, placing it on the floor next to her. A customer walked in, so Marinette sat up a little straighter until they left, hunching over and leaning her elbows into the counter.

Sabine walked down into the main area of the bakery, holding some coffee for her obviously tired daughter.  She looked at her daughter hunched over the counter, trying to fight falling asleep after getting home so late. Sabine looked down and saw the gigantic magic book and lifted an eyebrow before walking over to her daughter and setting the coffee down next to her. 

“Honey, why do you have that book down here?” Sabine asked, kissing her daughter on the forehead. 

“The mansion I went to last night had something in it I didn’t know a lot about, so I wanted to research before I went back,” Marinette replied, taking a sip from the coffee her mother brought her. 

“What was it? I could probably help,” Sabine asked. 

“Eh, I don’t know,” Marinette said. She didn’t really want to get her mother involved since she had somewhat distanced herself from the magical community even if she was a witch herself. “I don’t want you getting hurt.” 

Sabine stiffened. 

“If its something serious like that I don’t want you going back to that mansion,” She said, a stern look in her eyes that made its way onto the rest of her face. Marinette jumped up from her stool, almost falling over in the process.

“Maman, I’ll be fine,” Marinette told her mother. “I’ve been reading the section I need to from this book, and I’ll leave a little earlier tonight. I’ll leave while the sun is still up, so I’ll be back before it get’s too late.”

“I guess if you’re being safe and researching before you leave,” Sabine sighed, looking her daughter in the eyes. “I always forget that you’re old enough to handle yourself.”

Marinette smiled at her mother, kissing her on the cheek before she left and sitting back down on her stool. 

More customers came in, keeping Marinette busy and away from the topic of the abandoned mansion. The day seemed to fly by, different types of people coming in and out of the bakery. Most were locals, some tourists that didn’t know much french and struggled to order. Marinette helped them all the same, sometimes giving more help to the tourists that at least tried their french out before giving up and pointing at what they wanted. 

Eventually, Marinette walked back upstairs and opened the large book once again, giving it another shot once she was more awake. The topic was interesting, mostly because even though she believed in how dangerous some of the being mentioned in the book were, she wasn’t afraid to face them head on. Demons being extremely dangerous and warned against getting close to seemed to spark her interest in them. Marinette feared what might happen if her parents were to ever find out and what kind of harm might come to them, so she decided to just keep it her little secret until it seemed safer to tell them. 

Marinette looked out her window, the sun setting outside telling her to start heading to the mansion. She closed the book and stood from her place on the floor, heading over to the closet and changing into her Ladybug attire. Leaving while the sun was still out seemed dangerous, more people able to trace where she was coming from in the daylight. Deciding to forgo her hat, Marinette opened her closet looking for something else. Grabbing her cape from its hanger, she clipped the ladybug clip on the front and pulled the large hood over her head, hiding her face from the world. Marinette opened the trapdoor to see her mother in the kitchen below her. 

“Maman, I’m leaving for the mansion.”

Sabine looked up to her daughter, noting the large hood over her head. “Stay safe sweetheart.”

Marinette smiled as she closed the trapdoor before her, and headed up to the balcony attached to her room. The petite girl climbed up onto the roof, and for good measure, walked to the other end of the building before climbing onto her broom and making her way to the abandoned mansion. It didn’t take very long, as it was easier to spot in the daylight. 

That also meant she was easier to spot in the daylight. 

Marinette’s best friend Alya was obsessed with her supernatural alter ego, as she was the one usually behind all of the blurred pictures of the girl riding on her broom around Paris. Alya’s interest in the supernatural didn't come from nowhere, however. The girl also loved superheros, and anything else the majority of people would call fake or not real. She had an entire blog dedicated to Marinette’s Ladybug self, keeping the side of Paris that believed in the witch well informed of her whereabouts. 

All of this lead to Marinette looking down to the sound of Alya’s voice asking for an interview as she ran down the side of the road. Marinette sighed and looked at the watch on her wrist.  _ 18h30 _ it read, the hands of the small clock looking back at her.  _ I guess it won’t take that long to speak to her,  _ Marinette thought. She made a ladybug spotted mask appear on her face to keep anonymity in the whole situation, and floated her way down to the ground. 

“Ladybug! I’m so glad I could finally meet you and ask you some questions,” Alya said, hands resting on her knees as she bent over trying to catch her breath from running 5 blocks. 

“No problem. I don’t have much time, but I didn’t want to just leave you running after me since where I’m going is dangerous,” Ladybug said, looking down at her best friend. 

“My name is Alya! I run the Ladyblog, a blog all about your presence in Paris and everything you do to benefit the city,” Alya said, standing up once she got her breath. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped for a few moments, looking for the questions Ladybug assumed she was going to ask her.

“Okay, I’m only going to ask a couple of questions since you seem to be in a bit of a rush and I don’t want to keep you from wherever you were going,” Alya started, finally finding her place in her phone and smiling at the witch. “First, I’d like to know how you got started helping Paris with the supernatural.”

“Um,” Ladybug mumbled, looking down at the floor and trying to figure out a way to condense the answer into something Alya could write down. “It started with mayor realizing I was already doing my thing, as well as getting some attention in the witch community for being so helpful to others. I was invited into his office and asked if I could help with any supernatural problems, since the police don’t really know anything about that sort of stuff.” 

“That’s really interesting!” Alya replied, cocking her head to the side. “Are you an employee of the government or no?”

“No, just helping out for the good of the city. Don’t want anything dangerous hurting anyone, so I do it just to help out in my city.” Marinette smiled at the young journalist, also keeping her eyes on the sunset so to keep track of time without rudely looking at her watch. 

“Next question! Do you usually wear that mask on your face?”

“Not usually, no. I mostly put it on to keep my civilian identity a secret, since I don’t need random people coming up to me on the street and asking me if I’m ladybug, or coming to my home and bothering my family.” Marinette didn’t know what would happen if her identity did get out. Since at the moment she isn’t super well known it made so that if it did get out it wouldn’t be that bad, but since her best friend  _ was _ writing an interview article on her, Ladybug’s popularity might grow throughout Paris. 

“So is it just here for this interview?” Alya asked, looking up every few seconds from what she was typing on her phone. 

“Yeah. Not that I don’t trust you, but I just want to keep this public aspect of my magical life separate from my normal, day-to-day life, you know?”

“Absolutely, I completely understand that.” Alya continued to type for another 30 seconds, and then looked up and smiled at Ladybug. “Thank you so much for this interview, I hope I didn’t intrude on what you were doing.”

“Not at all, I left a little earlier than usual just so I would have more time. I’m happy to give you an interview anytime, Alya.” Ladybug smiled at her friend, happy to give her this sort of interview, even if she didn’t find herself very exciting or interesting. 

“May I ask where you’re going? If you don’t want to say that is completely fine,” Alya asked, placing her phone back into her pocket. 

“I’m looking into why the abandoned mansion in the next arrondissement keeps sending people away from the area, civilians and supernaturals alike.”

“Wow. That place gives me bad vibes. I hope everything goes well and you stay safe!” Alya said, grabbing Marinette’s hands. Marinette loved how much Alya openly cared for others, her passion for keeping those she loved safe something the two girls had in common. 

“Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to hear,” Ladybug laughed. 

Before the girls left each other for the rest of their days, Alya asked for a selfie, something Marinette could not say no to. The two girls looked happy together, a picture Marinette genuinely loved of the two of them. Marinette asked if the journalist could publish the selfie onto the Ladyblog so that she could have a copy of it, something that made the girl so excited she couldn’t stop smiling. Alya thanked her again and gave her a hug before parting ways with the witch, leaving Ladybug to make her way to the mansion as the sun finished setting. Oranges and pinks filled the sky, bouncing off the few clouds that littered the colorful landscape. Marinette wished she could go out into the sky more often at this time, although the idea of being stopped or recognized was something she didn’t want to risk all the time. 

The mansion looked beautiful against the backdrop of the sunset, the colors reflecting against the light coloring of the building, yet backlighting it at the same time and giving the sky the spotlight. The house was beautiful inside and out, which left Marinette wondering why anyone would want to leave. 

The sky was even more beautiful inside. Marinette had unlocked the door again and made her way into the room she originally found Chat in during her first visit to the house. The large window created a frame around the outside world, making it look like a piece of art that the home just seemed to hold. The slowly fading sky above the homes across from the mansion looked straight out of a photograph. Marinette was left in awe by the sheer beauty of the whole scene. She pulled her phone out and walked all the way against the back wall to make sure she got the entire window in frame. She took a few pictures, changing the exposure on her phone a couple times just to make sure she got every aspect of the scene inside the small snapshot. Once she finished she walked over to the couch and leaned on it, watching the colors of the sky slowly fade away and turn to blues and purples. 

“This sunset is almost as beautiful as you, my Lady.”

Ladybug turned her head to find Chat’s face right next to her’s, his body both behind her and next to her. His arm was leaning on the couch as well, just cementing in that he was indeed taller than her, as his head was at the same level as her with his entire forearm on the back of the couch compared to just Marinette’s hands holding the piece of furniture. 

“Hello to you too,” Ladybug said, smiling at the demon. 

“I told you not to come back, Ladybug.” Chat said, looking at her face and his smile growing. “What’s this mask? Trying to hide your face from me? I think it’s a little too late since I already memorized your face from the last time we met.”

Marinette brought her hand up to her face, realizing that the mask from her interview with Alya was still on her face. 

“This mask wasn’t for you, silly,” Ladybug said, tapping on the side of the mask causing it to poof away. “I had a little interview on my way here, and I needed to make sure that no one knows who I am.” 

“Why not, I would assume you would want people knowing who you were since you’re usually wearing that hat of your’s with the dots on it,” Chat said, standing up and walking around to the other side of her. 

“Not really,” Ladybug replied. “I am the type that doesn’t like a lot of attention, with or without the spots.”

“Hm,” Chat hummed, “I didn’t know that about you.”

“I think there are more things I don’t know about you, than you don’t know about me,” Ladybug replied, walking around and seating herself on the couch. 

Chat looked down at her, arms crossed across his chest. Although most of the color on him wasn’t present, she could still see how his green eyes squinted a bit at her. 

“I assume you’re right,” he said, walking over to the side closest to him on the couch and sitting down. Ladybug smiled at him, tucking one of her legs underneath her, mirroring his position on the couch. 

The two sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the Parisian night outside. Most of it tended to be the quiet hum of cars driving by, and the occasional group of drunk adults yelling outside. Marinette loved the sounds of the night; they seemed to comfort her when she was in scary situations, reminding her of the life outside the walls of whatever building she was in. She leaned her head against the back of the couch, looking at the few stars in the sky. At this point, the sky had faded to dark blues and purples, stars present, as well as the moonlight beginning to creep in. 

Ladybug looked over at Chat, the demon studying her features in the dark. It was starting to become harder to see him, as the moonlight hadn’t made its way into the building yet and hadn’t mimicked the night before. His muted blond hair and green eyes made it easy to spot him, the rest of his black outfit making him seem the slightest bit scarier since any part that wasn’t black seemed a mix of whatever color it was supposed to be and dark grey smoke mixed together. 

“I was wondering if I could learn more about you, Chat,” Ladybug said, bringing her other leg up onto the couch and just reaching his other leg with her foot, tapping said leg with her foot. About 15 minutes of silence had passed, and she didn’t know what was going through his head. Since she was pretty good at reading people, learning more about him would probably lead her to possibilities of what goes through his head.

“I told you already,” Chat said, distaste coming out, something Ladybug was just barely able to make out, yet felt through her entire body. “I was a cat who was taken care of by a witch and a couple, both of them in the same house but one of them not knowing about the other, and died from abuse from a witch. I don’t trust you enough for the rest of the story, something I’m still trying to piece back together myself.” 

“I could help you!” She said, smiling, bringing the leg that had just touched the demons leg underneath her in excitement. “I have resources in the outside world and could bring information back to you when I come here!” 

“Didn’t I already tell you I don’t want you coming here?” he spit out, his face hard and his arms still crossed across his chest. Ladybug’s smile faltered, sending a glint into the demon’s eyes.  _ He’s trying to make me not come back,  _ Ladybug thought.  _ I need to have him trust me so that I can either make him leave or not make people feel uncomfortable in the area.  _

“Yes, you did.” she said. “I don’t deny that last night you told me to not come back. But, I want to help you.”

“I don’t want your help. You’re a witch, and I don’t like witches.” His expression was still hard, but Marinette was determined to get him to trust her. 

“If I help you,” she started, Chat’s head cocking to the side slightly, one of his eyebrows raising, “Then you will have the answers you want and won’t bother people anymore. Then I’ll leave you alone because my job will be done.”

“Right, you’re here for a job,” Chat mumbled as he turned his head to the window, barely loud enough for Ladybug to hear. 

“If you don’t want my help, I’ll just have to keep coming here until we come to some sort of an agreement.” Chat’s head whipped back around to look at her. 

“You mean,” he said, climbing towards her, one hand landing on the arm of the chair she was leaning on, the other right in front of her crossed legs. His face was extremely close to hers, the glint in his eyes growing with each moment that passed until he spoke again, this time the words coming out almost like a whisper, “like a deal.”

“Um, well, kinda like a deal, but not like a deal.” Ladybug knew that making deals with demons was serious business. Business that locked you in for life, and even into your next lives, depending on how lucky or unlucky you were. 

“What do you mean?” He said, leaning back a bit, still ending up being close to her. 

“I mean like we would come to a friendly agreement,” Ladybug squeaked out. Chat’s face seemed to blank as he sat back onto his legs, looking her straight in the eye.

“Demons don’t do ‘friendly agreements.’ Demon’s do deals. You should know that by now.” 

“I just don’t want to lock myself into a deal that might kill me, just for the city to be safe. I love this city, but I can’t risk that much of my safety for it.” Ladybug sat up as she said this, hoping the fake confidence would come through to the demon as actual confidence and she wouldn’t die tonight. She looked at Chat’s face to try and get an idea of how well her plan was working. His hard eyes and annoyed look meant not so great.

“Look, I’ll just leave you alone for the night, and just come back tomorrow,” Ladybug said, beginning to get up from the couch. 

“No, don’t come back here tomorrow. Don’t come back here ever. I told you not to come back. I’m surprised you’re not dead already!” Chat’s voice boomed through the empty room, echoing and vibrating through Ladybug’s body. She wasn’t going down without a fight, even if it was more dangerous considering she was going up against a demon.

“You obviously didn’t kill me because you want me to help you!” a loud voice coming from her small body, a voice she’d never heard from herself before. It seemed to shock him from the look on his face, so Marinette decided to keep going. “If you didn’t want help, you obviously wouldn’t have sent so many bad vibes into the area, sending me right to your doorstep. You obviously want help or else I wouldn’t be here!”

“You know what,” Chat said, his voice becoming quieter, scaring Ladybug more than the loud shouting he had just done, “I want you out of this house and to never come back.”

“You’re going to want me to come back, and when you do, I will.” Ladybug said, walking up to him and poking him in the chest. Huffing, Ladybug walked out of the room and down the stairs to the front door. She picked up her broom from where she left it, and slammed the door on her way out. Ladybug hopped onto her broom and flew away, past the giant window. Chat was leaned over the couch, seeming to try and get some sort of composure. As he noticed her flying by, his anger seemed to triple, as he broke into a gigantic green flame. The color seemed similar to what his eyes would be without the grey muting it, bright and powerful. Within the flame, his colors seemed to contort, the normal green of his eyes turning into a black abyss. As she flew away, she turned back one last time to see his flames die down and no light coming from the large mansion. 

As Marinette back it back to her room, she noticed her parents still awake and on the couch in the living room of their home. She landed on the balcony of her room and looked down at her watch.  _ 20h40,  _ the small watch read. Marinette had only been at the mansion for almost 2 hours, yet it had felt like almost all night with how tired she was. 

Marinette opened the hatch to get into her room, first going to the trapdoor and letting her parents know she was home, and then going into her bathroom and filling her tub with water. The witch walked over to her closet and placed her broom inside, followed by her cape and her boots. She then walked to her bathroom and closed the door behind her. She pulled off her shirt and jeans, leaving them in a pile next to the door. Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, her black bralette and panties being the only thing on her body. She noted how tired she looked, the hunching of her shoulders and how her chest rose and fell quicker than if she was calm. 

She also noted how strong she was. The muscles on her arms from her work in fashion and in the bakery part of it, the other part being how much strength she gained from doing her work helping Paris with its supernatural. Barely there scars littered her body, memories of more physical encounters with different beings. She knew she was strong inside and out, and that she was able to tackle this problem with Chat, no matter how dangerous it was. 

Marinette was most happy with leaving alive from her argument with the demon. 

She stepped into the bath after removing the rest of her clothes and reveled in how nice the feeling of the hot water felt against her tired body. The water seemed to help relax her muscles and her mood, something she didn’t think was going to be easy after how draining the encounter had been. 

Marinette knew she was going to be able to get through to Chat no matter how hard headed and dangerous he was. She just needed to give it time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am working on fan art (art-art????) of Marinette from this story since I had a very clear idea in mind of what I want her to look like but I am also a perfectionist when it comes to my art so that might be coming out soon too.  
> check out my tumblr for any updates or anything for this story at cuddlequxxn (same as here)  
> thanks for reading, comments and kudos mean a lot to me and truly inspire me to continue writing, so thank u for leaving those!!!


	3. Abandoned Cat

Chat Noir wasn’t your ordinary cat. He had fur as black as the night, with eyes as green as newly grown leaves. Yes, he was about the size of a normal kitten at this point in his life, and yes, he didn’t really know what he had to do. The human he lived with worked with magic, he thinks he heard her say that a couple times, and she would only walk around at night. She tended to step on him since she couldn’t really see him with his dark fur, but as the days went on he figured out how to stay away from her ever moving feet. 

The name Chat Noir only stuck with him because that what people would call him. As he sat on the edge of a wall or walked around the roofs of the city, the humans would always say that phrase. Since the word or phrase that humans would call each other seemed to get their attention, he realized that the phrase ‘Chat Noir’ would be the one to catch his. 

One day, as Chat and his human companion walked around, she stopped in front of a large building. He heard her say something in the language everyone in the city spoke, and then she turned to him, speaking the same language that he didn’t understand yet. After a couple minutes of him just cocking his head to the side in confusion, she eventually realized that he didn’t understand her, and they made their way to a roof in a more quiet area of the city. The entire night she taught Chat the basics of the French language so he could understand her. It wasn’t that he didn’t know French, it was that it seemed familiar, and yet he couldn’t seem to understand it fully. 

After his French lesson that night, his human companion of knowledge told him that he needed to become close to whomever lived in the large building, so that she could also live in the large building. She told him that once he had made it inside, to go onto the roof and meow for her so that she knew she could get in. Chat found that an easy feat, as he tended to be popular with most humans.  

Chat made his way through the gates and up the steps, placing himself right in front of the doors. He looked over to his human companion on the other side of the gates, watching her look at him for a few more moments before walking away. Chat decided that since he was alone now, he could wander about the building since it looked so beautiful and familiar to him. 

He followed the walls that were connected to the gate, and watched as beautiful flowers and plants surrounded the building, making it seem all the more glamorous. If this is what this area of the city was like, Chat never wanted to leave. 

Chat Noir eventually made it to the back of the house, after getting distracted by the beautiful colors of the roses and the smells of the other flowers. Chat looked around, grass and more beautiful flowers filling the back end of the house than the front. Some chairs and a few tables littered the area, an umbrella opened near one of them. Chat was about to enjoy the sun in one of the chairs as the door opened, a woman coming out and sitting in the chair next to the one he was about to go to. 

The woman’s hair was blonde, falling past her shoulders. Her eyes were green, like the grass she was sitting near. She looked beautiful and warm, although her face made her appear sad. Chat wanted to comfort her, help her with whatever she was going through in the best way he could. 

Chat walked up to the woman, meowing before taking a few more steps forward. The woman looked down at him and smiled, prompting him to come a few steps closer and walking around her leg, his small tail wrapping around as much as it could. The woman placed her hand down, Chat sniffing it before ducking underneath it and having it run against his back. The woman pet him a few times and then picked him up, placing him in her lap. The two of them stayed like that enjoying the sun for a couple minutes before a man came outside to the back of the house. 

He was taller that the woman, and also had blond hair. His was short, and was mostly on the top rather the sides. His eyes were an icy blue, something that matched the cold and hard expression on his face. He wore a white suit, a red and white striped thing Chat didn’t know was tucked between his white collar and the grey vest the man wore. 

“What are you doing with that animal?” the man asked, walking up to the woman. 

“I found this black cat wandering around back here and I decided to pet it,” she replied, looking back at her husband. 

“You don’t know what kind of diseases that cat has.” The man’s face seemed so hard and angry, emotions that appeared to be aimed at Chat. 

“Well, we can find out what kind of diseases it has if we take it to a vet, although I think this beautiful kitten is probably fine.” The woman scratched at Chat Noir’s head, a purr vibrating through the kitten’s body causing her to continue. 

“It probably has an owner. We should try and find its owner if anything so they can deal with the animal instead of us.”

Chat stopped purring and looked up at the man. He didn’t know what he did to make the man so upset with him, but he wanted to try and fix it, or at least have the emotions not directly aimed at him. A moment later, the woman placed her hand around Chat’s neck, looking for the collar he didn’t have. 

“I don’t see a collar, and obviously if he has a home he will go back to it. If you’re worried about me you don’t have to, I think he’s fine.” The woman moved the hand that was resting on Chat’s back to reach around towards her husband, holding her hand palm up. The man sighed and reached his hand to grab hers. The two looked at each other with sad smiles, and eventually the man let go of the woman’s hand and turned to go back inside the house. The woman looked at her husband leaving before turning back to Chat Noir and picking him up as she stood up. 

“Time to take you to a vet, Chat Noir.”

 

Chat Noir had been in the house with the man and the woman for about 3 months. His human companion moved into a room all the way at the top of the building, filled with boxes of old clothes and other objects that weren’t in the main parts of the house. The man and the woman he lived with downstairs referred to themselves as “his Maman and Papa,” so even though he didn’t know their actual names, those seemed to work fine in his mind. 

Over the time he had spent in the home with his Maman and Papa, he found out what his human companion was. They had spoken of people who use magic in their lives, and that the people that matched the description of his human companion were called witches. His Maman and Papa were also magical beings, but didn’t like the words generally associated with the practice. Instead, they kept their magical abilities secret from the rest of the world, aside from Chat Noir.  

The name Chat Noir stuck, as people outside the mansion tended to call him that, and they seemed fine with the name as well. His Maman and Papa feed him well and took care of him, much better than the witch hiding upstairs. She tended to feed him things that didn’t seem like the things his Maman and Papa would feed him, and would leave him with an upset stomach for a little bit, but in the end he didn’t really care. Any food seemed to be good food to the cat. 

When people that came into the house would refer to him as his caretaker’s “new son,” they would stop talking and freeze up and steer the conversation a different direction. He watched this happen so many time, but didn’t know what had happened. Seeing the people who cared for him so much get so upset in turn made him upset, and he didn’t know why. It could be from the love he had for them, or for something he knew in his past life that he couldn’t figure out now. Something must have happened to their past son that he didn’t know about, and he couldn’t ask since he was a cat. Even though he wouldn’t ever really know what had happened to their past son, Chat Noir made it his purpose in his life to make them as happy as possible. 

 

It had been about a year since Chat Noir made the acquaintance of his Maman and Papa, and his life was generally very good. He was fed well as always, someone was willing to play with him at anytime, and sometimes he would just sit next to his Papa while he worked in his large office. His Maman would sometimes take him outside of the office and to his Papa’s office building to hang out, and those tended to be some of his favorite days. Being able to see the city outside of his home, the city he hadn’t seen much of in the past year. Some things always tended to change, but the city would always give him happiness. The times he would get out of the house would make his heart leap, happiness and giddiness he didn’t know he possessed almost seeping out of him.

Sadly all of this was temporary.

After one of the times that his Maman took him out, they got back sometime after dark. In general, he would head up to the attic where the witch lived, and would hang out with her until he eventually grew bored or fell asleep downstairs. This time, however, the witch was furious that he didn’t come up at his usual time. This caused her to hit him over and over again, blood appearing on the floor below him. He was so weak his vision blacked out and he fell asleep. 

When he woke up, he was moved over to the desk she worked at, unsure of how or when he made it there. The witch was looking around at her shelves of ingredients when she noticed that he was awake. She then grabbed what she needed and walked back over to the desk, slamming his waking body back onto the wood of the surface. She pointed her finger at him to tell him not to move, and went to work on whatever potion she was experimenting with. 

After a couple of minutes of silent work and the occasional glance over to him, she eventually turned back to him and said “open your mouth.” Chat Noir cocked his head as if he didn’t know what she was talking about, and at that moment her calm face morphed to one of anger. She grabbed his face and forced his mouth open and poured the potion into his mouth, the fizzy consistency something both familiar and new to him. He coughed up what wasn’t already in his system. His now fully grown body was stronger than his younger kitten one, and Chat Noir swiped his claws against the witch’s arm, causing blood to drip down onto the floor. The old woman screamed and cursed at him, throwing as many things into her bag as she could before blowing out the candles and flying out of the window. He understood the half of what she said that was in french, the other half in some ancient language he didn’t know. 

Chat Noir made his way downstairs, his body feeling a bit off as he made his way down the stairs. His Maman and Papa rushed out of their room, the sound of the cursing witch outside still heard from within the mansion. Chat Noir couldn’t understand what his human companions were saying as he walked, something that was abnormal for him. For the second time that night, Chat Noir’s vision blacked out and the last thing he heard was the sound of his body hitting the marble floors and the screams of his Maman as his breathing slowed.  

 

Chat Noir woke up to heat, the sort of heat that makes you want to take a cold shower because it’s so uncomfortable. As he opened his eyes, soulless black ones were looking back at him. The being was sitting in a chair at the center of what he assumed was the room he was in. Chat Noir looked down to find hands instead of paws, and lifted his arms to feel that he had a human face and hair. He looked up at the being in the chair, an all black figure whose features were somehow darker than the rest of his body. The being’s legs were crossed in the red and white velvet chair he was sitting in; his knees facing away from Chat but his chest and face facing directly at him. 

“So, I bet you’re wondering how you got into this little room here, hm?” the being asked, quirking his eyebrow up at Chat. 

“Yes,” Chat said, his voice coming out horse and not like much. 

“I hope you remember me?” the being said, bouncing his top foot up and down at a steady pace. “You do remember me, right?”

“No, I’m sorry that I don’t” Chat replied. 

“What a shame,” the being said, quickly standing up from his chair and making his way behind it, placing his hands on the back of it. 

The two of them sat like that for what felt like both a few seconds and an eternity. The being just looking at him, his face unreadable. The room seemed to be getting more bearable as time went on, Chat’s new body seeming to acclimate quickly. 

“Well, as it seems that you don’t remember me,” the being said, sitting back in his chair, “I’ll just have to explain before I send you off again.”

“Again?” Chat asked. The being nodded.

“Last time you were in this room, you were being turned into a cat as per your request. You wanted to live on earth again, but I told you that you couldn’t be a human again. That then prompted you to choose cat for god know what reason, but then I let you go on your way for however long you lived. It seemed like it wasn’t long bc it felt like I just got rid of you a couple hours ago. You did, however, sign your soul over to me after the first time, and so now I am just going to plop you down wherever I please. It seems as though you know the French city Paris fairly well, so I’ll be nice and leave you there again. If you somehow come back here though, I won’t be as nice and you will be begging to spend your eternity back in that busy city. Did you get all of that?”

Chat nodded, still a bit confused on how he got here or how this wasn’t the first time he was here. 

“Good. I’ll make your physical form close to how you would have looked at this point of time on Earth, fairly close to how you most likely would have aged if you could stay alive long enough. Well, time is wasting kid, go out there and ruin some lives for me.” The being pat him on the back and raised his hand to snap his fingers to seal the deal.    
“Wait!” Chat shouted. The man looked at him with a blank expression. 

“What’s wrong this time, kid?” 

“How did I even get here the first time?” Chat asked. 

“Your original name was Adrien Agreste, the family you were just living with was about 5 years out of losing you to a car accident, yes they were your parents since that’s who you asked to live near, and now you will be going back in around when you would have turned 23. You can go back to your house, but just know it’s gonna be really different this time, kid. Really different. You’re a whole new being this time. A demon this time. There are gonna be some things you will learn on your own and some things people will help you with. You ready?” the being asked

“I guess,” Chat replied.

“Good.”

 

Chat watched out for Ladybug, waiting for the next time she would make her way into the mansion. It had been almost a week and he hadn’t even felt her presence in the arrondissement. The demon didn’t want to admit it, but he was starting to miss the girl. Yes, he didn’t know much about her, and yes, she had only shown up twice, but the company was helping him not go crazy in his mind. All the information he knew and didn’t know about himself swirling around in his brain, it helped to have a distraction even if it was only for maybe an hour at a time. He knew his new temper wasn’t from his original human self and more from the newer demon form he possessed, which made him a bit upset since it might have scared the young witch away from him. 

Chat had a collection of books that the dumb, old witch that killed him had left in the attic, some of them containing information about demons and what they’re about. Some of the things he already knew, like how humans just know how to breathe. Some of the things, though, he had no idea about. In his case, he was a demon who didn’t originate as an angel, at least he thought so. He also found out that demons can disguise themselves as humans, to try and get what they want without scaring them off. Chat didn’t think that he would be able to do any of that, since he didn’t really know how to do anything with his new found powers. 

Although, Chat thought, if he managed to disguise himself as a human, he would be able to find the witch again and talk with her outside of the lonely mansion. Chat made his way up to the small library in his room and pulled out one of the old witch’s books, and opened up to to the demon section. 

After being so lonely for so long, Chat thought, he might as well give it a shot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly might rewrite the ending section, just because I don't like the flow of it, but I wanted to get this chapter out bc if not I was just gonna sit with it and keep rewriting it for eternity like all my other fics.   
> Comments and Kudos are much appreciated, they really inspire me to keep writing and I have a lot of thoughts and ideas for this fic that will hopefully get written lmao.   
> my tumblr is cuddlequxxn (same as here) for any possible updates I do for any fics, including this one.


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